So much happening in the Foundry right now! And here in the newsletter give a warm welcome to our newest reporter nolefan5311 (to add to his other talents)

Once again we are grateful for our roving reporter extraordinaire koontz1973's continuing story of the ever-changing foundry in his News and Maps in Development. Meanwhile, nolefan5311 brings us an interesting article entitled D-Day and other battles about ... well ... err ... D-Day and other battles! We are in luck this issue with a triple-serving of koontz1973 as he brings us an article entitled All in the Name ... can a Rose by any other name smell so sweet? Finally, I get all introspective about what you can do with a Story. Lot's to read and so much to do, enjoy this feast of cerebral pleasure.

And a few words from Oscar Wilde:

Technique is really personality. That is the reason why the artist cannot teach it, why the pupil cannot learn it, and why the aesthetic critic can understand it. To the great poet, there is only one method of music -- his own. To the great painter, there is only one manner of painting -- that which he himself employs. The aesthetic critic, and the aesthetic critic alone, can appreciate all forms and all modes. It is to him that Art makes her appeal.

thenobodies80 wrote:For your pleasure (specially for DiM, who wants more activity on our part), we're happy to announce that, after a short training period we have decided to give the blue color to nolefan5311.

From now he is officially in charge with iancanton to help with the gameplay stage.We're sure that he is a great gameplay analyzer and his addition to the CAs team is a great choice to have better maps and speed up the foundry process.....so please give him a great welcome!

Welcome aboard mate!

Nice one nobodies. He has been doing a splendid job in the foundry getting to the nitty gritty of the game play side of things.

Drafting RoomNo name by konontz1973.Marroned Redux by ManBungalow .Medievil Britain by The Bison KingFrance 2.0 by Lancelot du Lac Main FoundryGame play sectionGreek Games by koontz1973Classic Cities-Moscow by cairnswkSpanish Amarda by cairnswk.Mississippi by VicFontaineConquership by lostalimbo.Graphics sectionMagyarország by koontz1973 Classic Cities Sydney by cairnswk.Philadelphia by RedBaron0Final ForgeThis section is getting a little busy with a lot of maps ready for play. With the 12 maps in beta play we have 8 maps waiting to get going.With xml stamps.Slovakia, also by DiM.North America revamp by natty dread.Waiting for the xml.Clash of Kings by DiMJakater by koontz1973Knights and Warlocks by DiM.Copenhagen, also by Flapcake.Pirates and Merchants by DiM.New Jersey by chaos32679Classic Cities:Pot Mosbi by cairnswk.

Hello fellow Conquer Clubbers. I hope this dispatch finds you enjoying your summer. As I'm sure you're aware, this past week saw us celebrate the anniversary of the D-Day invasions, perhaps the most important invasion in the history of warfare. I would like to take the anniversary of that monumental event to spotlight not only the D-Day map most of you are already familiar with, but also maps currently in development that highlight some of the most important battles in history, which you may not have been aware were out there.

D-Day: Omaha Beach!

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First, I will start with the obvious and highlight the D-Day: Omaha Beach! map. A very cool looking map that very realistically portrays the fighting on that particular beach. With a ton of bonus opportunities, it's particularly fun to play on the new trench setting. Just be careful of the types of games you play on it. Bonus dropping on this map happens a lot, so be forewarned .

1588 Spanish Armada

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Another important naval invasion in history, this one remembered more for the epic failure it ended up being, is currently being re-created in the Main Foundry Workshop. 1588 Spanish Armada, one of the coolest looking maps to come out in a while, is in the early stages of development by the most proficient mapmaker this site has seen, cairnswk. As the title indicates, the map details the failed invasion of Britain by the Spanish Armada in 1588. While cairns has contributed almost 30 quenched maps to the site, this could end up being what I think might be his crowning achievement. If you can wrap your head around it, pop into the map thread and give your input in its development.

Trench Warfare 1917

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One of The Foundry's newest contributors, Flapcake, has created a very realistic portrayal of the fighting on the Western Front in World War I with his 1917 Trench Warfare map, which went live earlier this week. It’s still going through the rigors of beta testing, but has already proven to be very popular. Something about the map you don't like, or think would more realistically portray the fighting that took place? Use this opportunity while the bugs are being ironed out to leave your suggestions on gameplay changes. You can do that by visiting the map thread.

Magyarország

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Next, we highlight the interesting Magyarország (meaning Hungary in, well, Hungarian) map, created by the Foundry Reporter’s very own (and whose proving to be very proficient mapmaker in his own right), koontz1973. While not detailing a particular battle, it details the result of the Treaty of Trianon, the now infamous Treaty that ripped the Hungarian Nation apart after World War I. I'm sure koontz would love to hear your thoughts, so stop by the thread and let him know what you think. The "Saved Land' bonus structure is a particularly interesting concept which could prove to be a lot of fun and cause quite a wide range of gameplay scenarios.

1982

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And finally, another map currently in beta testing, 1982, details The Falklands War, or the Guerra de las Malvinas as it's referred to in Argentina. koontz1973 has gone into a lot of detail in portraying the different sides of the conflict, and the map has very diverse gameplay concepts being utilized. Should you focus on a land or sea based bonus? Or is controlling the air force the best way to take over a game? Play some games on the map and find out.

And always remember that The Foundry needs your input. The more involved you are, the better the maps are that get released into play. You might even learn a thing or two. We can always use more mapmakers

Many maps, many names, but how does a name come about? I ask this as right now, I am stuck for a name for a new map that is in the drafting room. Right now it is called 3 islands. Even ManBungalow is having trouble with his one called right now, Bungalow's pirate experience...or better name. So you see, it is not that waasy sometimes to come up with a name. So how is is done.

Easy Answer.Make a map of a well known country or city and you have a name.

ChicagoFranceGermanyIrelandStalingrad

Not so easy Answer.Some maps that start out with an easy name, have problems along the way and have to have their name changed. You may or may not remember this map.But because of that pesky problem called copyright, is got that lovely thing called a revamp. So now Middle Earth is called MidGard.

And how do you come up with a name for some area that is completely foreign.

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When I say foreign, I only mean it towards the men on this site. As we all know, woman are the better sex.

All Your Base Are Belong To Us by Dim got its name from an old internet meme. In case you did not know. But how did DiM come up with the Age of Realms names (Might, Magic & Mayhem).

Some maps have even more trouble than this. From personal experience, I have only got one map in Beta that has not had a name change. Rorke's Drift has been Battle at Rorke's Drift, Zulu, and a couple of others. Labyrinth started life as Greek Games of Death, shortened to Greek Games. Magyarország started life as The Kingdom of Hungary, shortened to Hungary. If you are wondering, Magyarország is Hungarian for Hungary. 1982 started life in the foundry back in September last year. In all of that time, only one person commented on the name of 1982. After I explained it to him, he left it alone and carried on commenting on different parts of the map. Now that it is in beta we have comments like...

kmhebert wrote:Change this map to "Falkland Islands War" or something. 1982 is a meaningless name for this map.

Swifte wrote:Why not 'Falklands/Malvinas Islas 1982' or something along those lines? All the other maps include both a location and date and I think that's a good practice to continue because the location/event name are much easier to associate with the map than just a year...

squishyg wrote:I followed the home page link to this and expected a very different map... No neon colors? No pop punk imagery? No leg warmers? Apparantly 1982 was very different in the Falklands.

thehippo8 wrote:What about "Maggie's War"?

But not to worry, a name has been chosen and sent to the powers that be. We will see if a name change can be done. It will change to...1982 Falklands War / Guerra de las Malvinas And yes, the Argentine name for the conflict will stay in the title.

If any of you can come up with a name for this map, I will be very grateful. All three of the small islands are named after old English words for England or an anagram of England. All territory names are named after English towns. Some of these are bloody funny names so have a read of them. The current name (Island Hoppers) is not final but needed to call it something. If you give the name that chosen at the end for the large map, not only will you have the grateful thanks of a map maker, you will get your sig on the map.

Well I’ve banged long and loud about the need for unifying concepts to be driven into the whole of visual imagery and gameplay. I’ve come up with varying types of analysis, including my dubious HIPPO analysis, and written a few articles generally on the topic. But I was lurking in the General part of the Foundry and stumbled across the wise words of natty dread. I won’t repeat it word for word here (cause you can go and read it there!) – but the upshot is:

Originality – that is an idea that people will groove to and that it is translatable into something that makes sense.

Comprehendability – if you don’t understand it then how do you expect to translate it into an image and, more’s the point, how is anyone else supposed to get what you’re on about!

Complementality – the gameplay and the visuals need to fit together or there will be discord – I think this is pretty much a crucial issue.

Detail – the map is a representation of a background story so all the bits (font, lines, items) need to go with that theme.

Fun – you are creating a game that has to be compelling and interesting so thought needs to go into gameplay elements to ensure that makes sense and is enjoyable (I wrote about gamplay in an earlier article so won’t go into that again in detail here).

Adaptability – the process of development can be tough but if you enter that with heads-up then you will be able to swing with the punches in the full knowledge that it’s all for the best.

And of course having a sense-of-humour is every mapmakers most valuable asset. Take that criticism and bang it back with an improved product! Interestingly enough, all this has been there for everyone to read since February 2008 but, hey, it doesn’t hurt to turn back time and see it afresh!

Some maps with good theme stuff happening

These maps are all currently in the Drafting Room Ideas forum. The first map I highlight is Flapcake’s Gold Fever:

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Immediately you can see that Flapcake has grasped the various elements of mapmaking well. The story is immediately understandable and the map elements tell that story well. All the elements make sense and the colours are well chosen. Obviously there is still work to do to tidy it up, but it’s a great start and a good example of what natty dread was talking about. The next map is sannemanrobinson’s Inca Empire:

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Without wittering on too much, this also tells a story and the elements go together. I believe that there are some lost opportunities here. One suggestion would be to note that the different regions could portray the different cultural/religious elements of Inca life. Another is that each region could be more “different” texturally and creatively from the others where the territories could better match the main pictorial elements. A final suggestion could be each area could do something that meets with the different pictorial elements (like decaying regions around the sacrificial tower to indicate loss of life or cumulative region bonus where the elements are to indicate the awesomeness of having all the animals on your side and so on). The map is still a work in progress so I make no apologies for making these suggestions and do them to highlight what natty dread was discussing. Finally, for this category, there is carinswk’s Mirror Mirror Who is More Wicked?:

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This map really is in its infancy, but it’s a cracking start. Tells a story, has interesting graphics, the detail is carefully considered. Frankly, I can’t wait to see where this one goes!

Maps that are struggling or have a degree of discord

Now if your map appears here do not feel it as being any sort of rebuke. I’m choosing maps in their infancy anyway so everyone get’s it that your map is not going to be perfect at this stage. Maybe something here may even help you! Anyway, without further ado – my first lucky victim is Gillipig’s Nigeria:

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This map seems a little flat to me. It has territories and regions and elements and it’s about a place but does it tell a story and is it interesting? I believe that there so much more that can be done here. What about the inception of Nigeria, different cultural groups (Nok, Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo), the loss of sovereignty to the British in 1911, independence in 1960, Nigerian-Biafran War of 1966, oil boom, return to democracy in 1999 and so on. The country is diverse in people, flora, fauna, language, religion and so on. It is also a hotbed of crime, corruption, fraud and novel uses of computers. It’s also geographically interesting including Chappal Waddi, Niger Delta, Obudu Plateau, Bamenda Highlands, Zuma Rock and of course the Sahara Desert is encroaching. Finally, by way of example, there are vast areas of ethnocentricity and language commonality:

It will be interesting to see what interests Gillipig aqnd what his story for this map will be. My second target is DiM’s Piglandia:

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I love this map. It takes guts to add humour into what we do and to share that with the world. Sadly there’s no story here. It’s clever and well executed but it needs something more. And there’s so many directions it could go. From the lives of pigs, to pig heaven, to storybook pigs and so on. That’s what is missing here DiM, can’t wait to see what you do about it! That is if it ever goes anywhere as I'm told that this pig is a dead duck! Don't expect it to ever happen but, assuming it doesn't, you can at least get my point! As an aside ... some maps do have some elements of humour but none that were quite this rediculous! My final target is tkr4lf’s The Black Sea:

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Now don’t get me wrong, a huge amount of talent and effort have been expended on this map. But my comments that I made for Inca Empire relate equally to this map. But at this stage there’s no story or life to this map. Again, there’s so much that can be done. Fix a time, a theme, a story and make your map come to life tkr4lf!!

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natty dread wrote:pigland was a parody map that was never intended to be developed

Funnily enough, Koontz pointed that out to me also but it suited me to keep it in the article as it fitted my purposes in explaining my point. Mind you I still smile every time I see it and wish to this day that it'd be more than a parody! Oink-oink!

natty dread wrote:pigland was a parody map that was never intended to be developed

sadly i think piglandia would actually fly through the foundry right now. it certainly looks better than some maps we have in final forge and the gameplay would be a breeze especially if i go with something classic as there's hardly anybody left active in the foundry to complain.

“In the beginning God said, the four-dimensional divergence of an antisymmetric, second rank tensor equals zero, and there was light, and it was good. And on the seventh day he rested.”- Michio Kaku

natty dread wrote:pigland was a parody map that was never intended to be developed

sadly i think piglandia would actually fly through the foundry right now. it certainly looks better than some maps we have in final forge and the gameplay would be a breeze especially if i go with something classic as there's hardly anybody left active in the foundry to complain.

And there's so many funny things you can do. My vote is you carry on with it!

natty dread wrote:pigland was a parody map that was never intended to be developed

sadly i think piglandia would actually fly through the foundry right now. it certainly looks better than some maps we have in final forge and the gameplay would be a breeze especially if i go with something classic as there's hardly anybody left active in the foundry to complain.